Second viewing thoughts and grades: Notre Dame

In his postgame press conference and comments on Monday, Addazio kept emphasizing how close BC is and how close these games are. After watching it back, I actually agree with him. But where Addazio sees the relative talent as even and a team playing well the majority of the game, I see it as an indictment of everything he's doing. If your team is close and in it, you shouldn't lose 29 points.

Offense: B-

Brown looked much better than last week. Some of his passes were a little behind or a little short (like that early one to Walker) but he made good decisions and overall, made good passes. He stayed poised in the pocket. I think we should let him run a bit. Not because he has speed, but because the plays are there.

Hilliman looked much much better. I know part of it was that he finally had some holes, but he also ran with purpose and got things to the second level. Dillon didn't get as many touches but looked decent.

Callinan played really well. He made some tough catches and also fought for yards. Jeff Smith did not look great and dropped two catchable balls. Thadd Smith got snuffed out on the jet sweeps. White was good. The Tight Ends blocked better, but the false starts were killers.

The OLine looked how they were supposed to look. Petrula got well deserved praise. The right side looked good. They all gave Brown enough time.

What I liked about the Loeffler's adjustment was that we rolled Brown more and used more play action. That helped settle him and gave the WRs space. I know it is ultimately Addazio's call, but I still think we get too conservative in the redzone. The 4th down call was not well executed.

Defense: F

The DLine needs to get better quickly. Landry is being misused and had some plays. I think at this point we need to give him the greenlight and just chase QBs. Dropping into coverage is a waste. Even reading and waiting is not what he does best. He did miss Wimbush on Wimbush's biggest run. Allen had a few tackles but is not making the impact promised in the summer. Ray needs to step up. Merritt had some good plays.

Richardson made some plays earlier but didn't make the stops as the game wore on. Schwab was fine. Bletzer is not playing poorly but he is not closing on enough plays and his speed looks suspect.

The DBs looked good in past coverage. They had problems helping the run. Look at ND's first big play. It came off a Moore missed tackle. Other than that, Moore played well. Yiadom was good. Dennis continues to play well. Harris was active and productive, but we need some game changing plays from him.

I am a Jim Reid fan and defender, but this was bad. It doesn't matter if you stop them on the majority of plays if it falls apart later. I wish we were more aggressive. I wish we would stop messing around with Landry and I wish we knew how do defend a simple zone read. It hurt us in all three games. We will be seeing it until we show we can stop it.

Special Teams: B

Special teams continues to be the lone bright spot. Other than Walker's fumble -- which BC recovered -- everything was good.

Kick offs were strong. Punt coverage good. Knoll is placing the ball well.

Lichtenberg did well.

Overall: F

I obviously spent a lot of time on the sequence before the half, but there is plenty of blame to throw at Addazio. Why does he keep punting from the opponent's territory? Knoll is making the decision seem smart by punting well, but most Pop Warner coaches know that the better move is to go for it. Landry's usage is also looking dumb. Whether he is hurt, you're trying to develop him in other areas or you truly believe you are resting him, the benefits are not showing. Addazio even said that DEs were not the problem on the first three scores. He's implying that even with Landry, Notre Dame still scores. But that is not a given. Landry draws extra attention and forced ND to switch plays. We can't assume anything about what happens if he had been on the field. Even how he used Wade late during the blowout is weird. Why not go for it there? Or give him more throws? What do you have to lose?

BC has many tough games ahead. Most should be competitive. However, if Addazio keeps coaching like he did this week, nothing will be close.